"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain menfrom injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." (Thomas Jefferson)

Friday, October 12, 2012

The National Republican Committee (NRC) platform resembles some of the ones in our states where the far right has already taken over. Gone are the days of President GW Bush along with his common sense on abortion where he always had the three exceptions: rape, incest, and life of the mother. Some of the hard right do not even agree to the life of the Mother being an exception. Personally know hard right members who believe in NO exceptions no matter what.

In case anyone forgets, not only did Paul Ryan work with Todd Akin on the redefinition of rape, but he has sponsored or co-sponsored over 38 anti-abortion bills since going to Congress:

Paul Ryan worked with Republican Todd Akin to sponsor legislation that would have redefined rape as “forcible rape” and limited abortion coverage for rape victims. According to the Washington Post, “[a] Republican bill seeking to permanently cut off federal funding for abortions has angered women’s groups that say it alters the definition of rape, permitting coverage for the procedure only in cases in which the rape is considered ‘forcible.’ The most well-known provision that would become permanent under the bill is the Hyde Amendment, which prevents some federally funded health-care programs from covering abortions.” [HR 3 Co-Sponsored 1/20/11, Vote #292, 5/4/11; Washington Post, 2/1/11]

Romney/Ryan cannot be trusted when it comes to women's rights from contraceptives to abortions. That is a fact that the Conservative Media/Republican Spokesmen ignore with their lies and spin which is becoming more and more outrageous as are the Romney/Ryan lies and spin. There are many articles about the debate last night but I wanted to concentrate as a woman on the abortion issue after Romney tried to move to the middle on abortion last week followed by his staff bringing him back to the hard right along with the pro-life religious right leaders to clarify what Romney meant. Romney speaks to an audience -- staff runs out to say what he really meant and this guy wants to be President? Ryan confirmed last night during the debate the true stance of Romney/Ryan and the Republican Party on abortion.

In the last week, as Mitt Romney has cultivated a new, more moderate image, it looked like he was having some success catching up to President Obama among female voters. Neither reproductive rights nor equal pay figured in the first presidential debate, which almost everyone agrees that Romney won. When it was over, Romney continued his lurch to the center. Contradicting everything he said in the primary, he told an Iowa newspaper that he knew of “no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.” While his spokeswoman walked it back, conservatives, happy that Romney finally seemed to be winning, didn’t demand any loud mea culpas. A person paying only sporadic attention to the campaign probably wouldn’t realize that Romney has pledged to work toward a wide-ranging abortion ban.

Nevertheless, the question worked perfectly for Joe Biden. In general, Americans are ambivalent about abortion, but they don’t want to make it illegal. By speaking in religious terms, Biden was able to combine his personal opposition to abortion with a strongly pro-choice stance. In his own life, he says, he accepts Catholic doctrine. “But I refuse to impose it on equally devout Christians and Muslims and Jews, and I just refuse to impose that on others. Unlike my friend here, the congressman, I do not believe that we have a right to tell other people that—women they can’t control their body. It’s a decision between them and their doctor.”

Ryan, by contrast, reminded the country that he opposes abortion in all circumstances, and that Romney intends to severely restrict it. “[I]f you believe that life begins at conception … That’s a principle,” he said. “The policy of a Romney administration is to oppose abortion with exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother.” When Raddatz asked him if abortion-rights supporters should fear a Romney administration, he sort of harrumphed, and then responded, “We don’t think that unelected judges should make this decision; that people through their elected representatives in reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process should make this determination.” In other words, they want to overturn Roe.

What I take away from the Biden-Ryan debate last night is this: Team Obama is willing to stand up for women and to make their position unequivocally clear. Moreover, tested time and again, they stand by it.

What you get from Team Romney is all over the place. Romney is busy clarifying clarifications, Tuesday saying he knows of no abortion legislation that is part of his agenda, and on Wednesday announcing that he will defund Planned Parenthood.

Ryan, for his part, when asked by moderator Martha Raddatz, “I want to go back to the abortion question here. If the Romney-Ryan ticket is elected, should those who believe that abortion should remain legal be worried?”

Ryan answered:

“We don’t think that unelected judges should make this decision; that people, through their elected representatives and reaching a consensus in society through the democratic process, should make this determination.”

Unelected judge? We are not talking about unelected judges making decisions. We are talking about women making decisions. About their own bodies. About their own health.

Compare and contrast that again with what Biden said:

"do not believe that — that we have a right to tell other people that women, they — they can’t control their body. It’s a decision between them and their doctor, in my view.”

Team Obama wants to leave women in control of their bodies. Team Romney wants to leave elected representatives in control of women’s bodies.

Romney can dance all over the spectrum trying to act like a sane, moderate candidate, but he has sold his soul to America’s religious extremists on the issue of abortion and contraception.
What Americans need to remember is that in Team Romney we have a conservative Mormon and a conservative Catholic allied to conservative Protestants, none of whom are much interested in what the U.S. Constitution says about anything.

Congressman Paul Ryan outed the Romney/Ryan position on abortion last night during the vice presidential debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky. American women found out that Paul Ryan wants to ban abortion, and doesn’t really think that exceptions should be made since “life begins at conception.” This means that all life is precious (except for live children, the elderly, our troops, and people on death row).

RYAN (emphasis mine):

"Now, you want to ask about why I’m pro-life. It’s not simply because of my Catholic faith. That’s a factor of course. But it’s also because of reason and science… All I’m saying is that if you believe life begins at conception that therefore doesn’t change the definition of life. The policy of a Romney administration is to oppose abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother.”

Ryan gave an uncomfortable nod to the far right, saying that he and Romney don’t believe “unelected judges” should be able to make those decisions. He also suggested that elected officials should be the ones in charge of Row V Wade, raising the alarm bell that a Romney/Ryan administration intends to implement a form of the Personhood Amendment, which did not make exceptions for rape and incest when Ryan introduced his version.

Watch here:

Ryan’s belief that life begins at conception means the Romney/Ryan administration would oppose abortion except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the life of the mother, but that’s not the whole story, because Ryan has a history of working to restrict access even in the case of rape and incest.

In 2011, Ryan co-sponsored the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a Personhood Bill that defined life as beginning at conception. This is important because it uses the same words the public heard from Paul Ryan last night — “life begins at conception”. What does that mean policy wise? The Personhood Amendment does not make exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother and it can render some birth conrol illegal:

Birth control is, of course, the best method of stopping actual abortions from taking place. Romney has said he wanted to defund Planned Parenthood, which not only offers many health related services beyond abortions, but also provides birth control to low-income women. Abortions don’t decrease when they are illegal, but women do die from illegal abortions.

As a woman who grew up as a teenager during the days without Roe V Wade where women had to travel far distances to get an abortion or get back alley abortions in the local community where some ended up dying, I do not want to go back to those days. I have said for years it is not my business to tell another woman what she should do when it comes to abortion because I don't walk in their shoes. It should remain safe and legal for those who believe they have no other choice. It should never be used for birth control and believe that the vast majority of women in this country do not believe in partial birth abortion as they consider it a heinous act. It would be great if abortions were rare but you cannot ask someone who has been raped or a victim of incest to carry that child IMHO.

What I am the most tired of is a group of white males in the Republican Party out campaigning to take away a women's right to choose. It is between the woman and God not some group of white male chauvinists. I am also sick and tired of the 'my way or no way' group who want to push their ideas on the rest of us along with their religion and their free speech while expecting the rest of us to sit down, shut up, and go along.

Been fighting the hard right for years within the Republican Party and will continue that fight, but not in my state because it is a lost cause. Several years ago at our State Convention, there was a plank in the platform that teachers in the public schools would be required to teach the Bible. When I asked which Bible was told there was only one. Go in any bookstore that sells Bibles and you see a wide array of Bibles. I told them it was a slippery slope and was called names as I was considered to be a non-Christian.

That little dust up opened my eyes in 2010 and have not attended another Republican event because the hard right have taken over here since the 2010 elections. Will no longer contribute to the State GOP or the National GOP until they return to center right. If common sense people like Jeb Bush and Jon Huntsman cannot move the GOP back more to center right after this election, then it is a lost cause and many of us will be part of the exodus of the center right Republicans from the GOP which has been ongoing for sometime.

According to Think Progress, “NRA: Practice Range” is billed as a “network of news, laws, facts, knowledge, safety tips, educational materials and online resource” for the organization.The National Rifle Association released a new app on Sunday that includes a gun range equipped with coffin-shaped targets, and the option for players to simulate using a military-grade sniper rifle.

The app includes what it calls “9 true to life firearms,” and allows players to download an MK-11 sniper rifle setting for 99 cents. The rifle can shoot 750 rounds per minute.

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Former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY)

“For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you,” he told CNN back in May. “He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress.”

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John Stuart Mill was a 19th century political philosopher:

"I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." John Stuart Mill.